U.S. says basic outline in place for int'l services trade deal

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The outline of an
international trade deal opening up services markets is in
place, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on
Wednesday, ahead of the next round of negotiations next week.

The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), which seeks to free
up trade in services such as communications and banking, is
being negotiated among 50 countries that make up nearly
two-thirds of global services trade.

"The basic framework of the agreement is in place, initial
market access offers have been exchanged, and sector-specific
work in areas like telecommunications and financial services is
in full swing," Froman said, while cautioning there was still a
lot of work to do.

Issues that come under the umbrella of TISA range from
cross-border data flows and monopolies by state-owned
enterprises to air pollution monitoring, shipping and postal
services.

In the United States, services account for 75 percent of
economic output and 80 percent of private sector jobs; in the
European Union, they account for almost 75 percent of gross
domestic product and employment.

But their importance in trade is often under-estimated.
The hidden value of services can be almost as much again as raw
services export figures suggest, according to calculations from
the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation of
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Taking into account the value added by services such as
transport, logistics, finance and communication, the services
sector contributes around half the value of total exports in the
United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.

In China, where services make up only about 10 percent of
gross exports, services value-added amounts are worth nearly
one-third of the total.

The WTO estimates that services account for more than 40
percent of world trade, if measured in value-added terms, and
two-thirds of the world's foreign direct investment stock.
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